Benjamin Franklin once said that only two things in life are certain. One is death, and the other taxation. You would not, however, know this from looking at the courses offered by the UK's universities, which I have happened to do.
Searching on the Which? University site I looked at just three subjects. Given Franklin's suggestion the first I looked at was medicine, given that this is a subject pretty directly related to the issue of death. I got this result:
Then I searched tax because in this case it did not seem that any other term was appropriate; the word itself would, I thought, do. I got this result:
Just in case they did not cover the 'social sciences' I checked accountancy instead:
So, this was no mistake: UK universities really do ignore tax. Searching a little harder, I did eventually find that Bournemouth University offer an undergraduate course in accountancy and taxation, and of course there are some universities who offer places for postgraduate study, particularly in taxation law, and the occasional Ph.D. But, overall, what is staggering is the extent to which UK universities completely ignore the issue of taxation as if it is of no consequence to society at large.
That gives rise to three questions. First of all, why does the government allow that? Secondly, why is there no demand for such courses? And, thirdly, given the importance of tax isn't something being done to change this absurd situation so that we might, in the future, have some people who actually understand how tax works, because right now we are desperately short of them.
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Tax is boring, it really is.
So a nice young man at the union bar, what course are you on? Tax. He isn’t going to pull anything that night!!
If you want to change the world you have to know about tax
If that is not attractive, what is?
I was always told the rowing and rugby men where attractive. It certainly not me!!
Everyone seems to study business these days.
Erm, you searched for “medicine” and “tax”, not “death” and “tax”. You are mixing the general with the specific. Surely you need some accountancy background to work in tax?
Death did produce no results
But I doubt we need a study of death, more study of how to avoid it
And no, you do not need to study accountancy to understand tax: in fact, that is the precise problem. We view it as a technical issue, when it is in fact a political and philosophical one with economic underpinnings
I think the problem is people thinking you don’t need to know any accountancy to understand tax.
My trainees do accounting exams first and tax second. Accountancy sets the context for tax, and gives you a language to speak about it (in the way that maths gives you a way to talk about physics and chemistry). Without context and communication, you flounder.
Of course business studies sets the context for accountancy, and history, politics, anthropology, psychology etc set the context for business (and each other), but we can’t go back too far without blowing the training budget.
Universities are academic bodies
They are not technical colleges
Maybe you don’t know the difference?
There are a few universities in the UK that do thanatology (the study of death).
http://www.ru.nl/ct/english/networks/research_centres/
Coincidentally the mother of a Japanese friend of mine studied thanatology at a university in Canada, Vancouver I think, a few years ago.
I’m well aware of the difference between university and college, thanks 🙂
I’m not sure what you think the pertinent difference is, though. Do you think that academic study can happily be carried out in a narrow field divorced from context? I know some academics who would disagree.
Tax is at the intersection of a number of subjects such as accounting, law, and economics. Unless you know something of each of them, you’re not going to get far with tax. That makes it something more suited for postgraduate study than undergraduate, in an academic context.
Go to the OECD
They happily discuss tax without having a clue about accounting
That’s not wise
But to think for a minute that a university course on tax would require a detailed knowledge of double entry let alone how to complete a tax return or do a comp is as unwise, in my opinion
I’m not sure I said anything about a detailed knowledge of double-entry, or being able to prepare a return. You’re attacking a straw man.
But if you say that the OECD looking at tax without knowing accounting is a bad thing, then surely an undergraduate tax degree would have to include an accounting element (inter alia) if it is to be worthwhile.
As accounting degrees include a tax element already, all that would be required is a shift of emphasis to favour tax over accounting rather than vice versa. Given the fashion for modular courses these days this may already be possible – I’m not familiar with undergraduate accounting degree syllabuses.
Of course you might find that a tax-heavy degree is therefore called “Accounting”, but a rose by any other name…
An accounting option would of course be good
But in a tax degree
What about “Fiscal Studies”? That is what I studied many moons ago in Brussels…
Funny no one has said that if there are no studies on death, then there shouldn’t be any on taxes. Both are lethal to some…
With the speed that UK tax law, guidance and general messing around changes, surely any degree in tax would be out of date the following year! In fact, your first year would be out of date when you started the second.
You really do miss the point don’t you?
If you honestly think that a university course is about teaching someone the basics of a profession, or the technical aspects of a trade, then you are seriously mistaken. The purpose is to provide understanding, and in this case the philosophy, politics and economics of tax would have to be at the core of any degree, but they aren’t, and that is the precise problem that we face in the UK, and elsewhere, in determining tax policy
So my physics degree should have skipped the part on fission to discuss the ethics of giving me the knowledge to build a humanity destroying bomb?
Oh dear: the confusion of physics with social science. A very basic error
Nowadays I think more people expect universities to teach them a profession!
That’s why business, accountancy, engineering etc. are more popular.
It’s a real shame. All the young acocuntants now seem to have studied accountancy at university unlike when I started and we had a real mix of graduates studying with very diverse backgrounds and interests.
Back to the main topic – txation is a subset of accounatncy or law – or at least taht is how it is seen – As you say it’s seen as a technical subject. At to some extent of course that is true.
What I think you are striving towards is a course covering the more general concepts of tax, what tax seeks to achieve – Something more philosophical and econmoics focussed perhaps rather than simply exploring the technical aspects. Persjhoanly I would find that interesting but I am not sure it would appeal to many students.
But something exploring the economic/philosphical angle could/should perhaps be included in accountancy courses and economics courses
Tax is neither a subset of accountancy or law
To say so is absurd
It is applied philosophy, politics and economics
I think we agree though on that
And it could even cover the philosophy of accounting (oh, yes there is one – just most people don’t realise: it treats people as second rate, for example)
If Bournemouth is the only place offering a course on tax (or how to avoid it) then gawd help us.
The nearest comparator for “death” is probably something like “geriatrics”, for which there are no courses, or “palliative care” where I got about a dozen nursing courses. Tax comes in as part of law, economics, accountancy etc. I wouldn’t expect anyone to go from A levels to the study of tax, alone, as an academic discipline; you would need a context in which to see it. A more appropriate question is what Masters courses there are, given the increasing number of people who are taking at least a Masters.
If you can study accountancy, why not tax?
As Piketty says, tax is applied philosophy and politics. Why not study it? Not the technical stuff – that would be a complete waste of time. But the theory of it. Why not?
You say “tax is applied philosophy, politics and economics”. I am no expert on what can be studied, but I am pretty sure that “Philosophy, Politics and Economics” is often called PPE and widely studied.
Note the word ‘applied’
At my university there are two compulsory modules (and from next year a third elective module)in taxation as part of the accounting degree. All universities offering accounting will have at least one, and very often two, tax modules. I also set coursework asking to look at issues such as tax avoidance in a critical manner.
Can you share the syllabus – and your university name?
Tax is important, whichever side of the political spectrum you may sit. When I talk about tax I put up pictures of the Boston Tea Party, the French Revolution and the Poll Tax Riots as examples. I explain that whether you by an apple or a mars bar for lunch, is at least influenced by tax. Tax is the borderline where the state and the citizen interact on a daily basis. It is too important to be left to people like me who ‘do’ tax.
We agree
When I think about it I love the idea of studying tax. Its the perfect vehicle for studying economics, finance, politics, anthropology, history, social policy, environmental policy, philosophy etc etc.
Precisely
I’m sure there’s an Oxford Centre for Business Taxation. Or at least used to be.
Is this the sort of thing you mean, that more people should be studying tax in our universities?
There is such a centre, financed by big business
But no undergraduate courses there either
My wish for a ‘like’ button is beginning to backfire – No One Expected a Dislike Button!
TW A bit one dimensional – why is it whenever “Oxford Centre of Business Taxation” is mentioned the words myopia, tunnel vision, vested interests, crony capitalism and monopolists spring to mind.
When I was an undergraduate in Australia in the 80s, pretty much every University offered a B.Com or B.Ec majoring in accounting. And tax law was a compulsory subject to complete that major.
Every university with a law school also offered tax law as a subject. It was a fairly popular one, but not compulsory.
A number of universities offered Masters Programmes focusing entirely on tax (M.Com’s or LLMs).
Can’t speak for what happens in the UK given I didn’t study here. Isn’t there a Centre for Business Taxation at Oxford? How did the Which? search miss them?
I was looking for undergraduate courses
I think that was clear
And is one pst-graduate centre enough? Why?
You’re right, one is apparently not enough.
Exeter has one: http://tarc.exeter.ac.uk/
I recall Nottingham has the Tax Research Institute (the link is broken – don’t know whether that is an IT glitch or because the Institute has closed).
Queen Mary has something called the Institute of Tax Law at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies.
And these are a handful I just Googled. I imagine tax is taught and researched at plenty other places that don’t necessarily have an ‘Institute’.
I imagine nobody needs to look far to study as much about tax as their hearts desire. Education has never been as accessible in the history of mankind.
I suspect you got such a low hit rate on your Which? search because the word ‘tax’ isn’t used much in degree titles — it is often linked with something broader, like accounting, economics or law.
These are postgrad centres and usually small
Nottingham has shut – I was a fellow there once
Exeter is dire: dedicated to tax admin
And the point remains – why is tax secondary when it is so important?
Richard, thanks for flagging this. In fact, finance is a big teaching industry, and even here, public finance is rarely taught (of which tax would be a component). This is a profound and subtle ideological way of saying that anything related to the public sector is second class, inferior and not worthy of study. It relegates public interest and ethics to irrelevance on the MBA or finance programmes. The facts are that public finance is a big slice of any economy, and corporations should act as public citizens, not private ruffians. I do teach public finance to my MBA students, and they have found it fascinating and stimulating. It also provides a balance and a platform for really critiquing finance theory and its fundamentalism.
I agree with you
Isn’t tax policy implicitly a branch of moral philosophy? Explain to me your views on how taxes should be structured and you will have explained to me – at least implicitly – your ethical worldview.
Courses on tax do not yield a sufficient rate of return on investment and do not contribute to economic growth or meeting manpower needs of the foreseeable future.
Does Art History?
“we might, in the future, have some people who actually understand how tax works, because right now we are desperately short of them.”
Reading your blog makes that last point abundantly clear.
The point with your search is that it would only identify degrees where the primary or sole subject is taxation
At UWE the second level taxation module is one of the most popular electives and attracts more than 200 students each year who are registered for degrees in accounting and finance or business management – it also features some of your work on the tax gap and avoidance. Its popularity is definitely affected by the exemptions that it will provide for ICAEW and ACCA examinations. We are also thinking about developing an advanced module for the final year due to popular demand.
Which is great: but is tax really only worth a module? I doubt it. That’s my point
In a market for courses why will no one risk a whole course?
its normally a module of a law degree – thats where I did my tax undergrad studies, and this is a perfectly sensible place for it to be given a lot of it is interpreting tax cases etc. Having said that, its probably inappropriate if you want to go into the morality/social side of tax.
Tax at university, as I have already said, should not be a technical subject but an extension of philosophy, politics and economics – as accountancy should be too. And law, come to that, where jurisprudence is usually overlooked
jusriprrudence is a mandatory part of any law degree.
Yes
But treated as a result as secondary
Sorry rm. I don’t understand what you mean by treated a secondary. It’s compulsory for law degrees to study jurisprudence. Are you saying that’s a bad thing?
Compulsory tends to meam desultory
The history of taxation could be interesting: the original/natural source of taxation was land.
Partly
It was also the product of land – and that involved labour
But it was the landowner who paid the tax, not the labourer.
OK
We need tax to be part of citizenship classes.
That would be a start
At the moment personal financial education is now a mandatory part of the syllabus in schools. When I am volunteering in schools through ICAEW I usually do something on tax and public finances. It is surprising how quickly young people get interested in the subject, even in very academically challenging environments. The part that amuses me is that the staff want to sit in, and I have been asked several times to go back in and do a session for staff. You do need to balance the “philosophical” with aspects that affect young people directly to keep them engaged, but it is fun to do. Particularly when one lad spoke about not declaring all of his income, and I pounced on him and asked him to explain to the girl sitting next to him why her (imaginary) grandmother could not have a replacement hip because he had fiddled his tax. Very interesting indeed…
Thanks Rebecca
Does the ICAEW produce materials for this
If not, should it?
Just a thought re its charitable work
Interesting point I think about the lack of focus on this as a university subject. I am currently studying for a PhD looking at taxation of US MNE in the UK. I don’t think there is much tax taught on the undergrad syllabus here but I think that there has been a push to add more tax so possibly in the future…
Where are you doing that?
Interesting…
HBS at Reading. Lots of finance and accountancy taught here but I don’t know how much tax within that.
Thanks
R
AS you know RM I have been banging on about this for years. Tax studies have been captured by Lawyers, Accountants and Business people throughout UK history. It has its case history and its rules and computations but these are techniques not the essence of what taxation is about. I love Rebecca Benneyworth’s comments above which I also use to say one’s man’s tax cheating is another’s suffering.
Perhaps I will do a Phd when I retire on the subject. Even I as a boring Accountant
(non Left Wing) know that tax is vital for public services.
Go on
Do it!!
Have you considerd that universities may have a totally different view to yours on how to teach the law and accounting of taxation?
And you are deluded if you think tax isn’t a subset of legal studies – law of contract, law of purchase and sale, law of property, interpretation of statues, sources of common law, exec etc.
Who is the best philosopher in UK dealing with tax issues?
Martin O’Neill is the best philosopher
http://www.york.ac.uk/politics/our-staff/martin-oneill/
Law, of course, plays a part. But only a part
As for universities disagreeing, of course they do: they have been captured by neoliberalism